Tuesday, 16th March 2010 at 23:04

The days bring us ever closer to the New Generation Festival launch and its publicity machine rolls on. Latest off the press office conveyor: a brand new behind-the-scenes "making of" video featuring unseen concept art, along with lots of new "fun facts" from the celebration.,

Here’s the video:

And now let’s take a closer look. It begins with Disney Showtime Spectacular, the new Central Plaza show which thankfully appears to be defying its generic name by possessing some interesting ideas.

Of course, this is possibly the first time at Disneyland Paris we’ve seen characters from the likes of Toy Story or The Incredibles taking part in a stage show, and the classic Disney characters are going to welcome them in style. As you can see from the concepts captured below, Mickey and Minnie (and possibly the other VIPs) will have a costume to match each scene of the show, transforming — somehow — from chef outfits for Ratatouille to green army gear for Toy Story, bright Hawaiian colours for Lilo & Stitch and black superhero masks for The Incredibles:

Insider Poppy the Monkey on magicforum has revealed that the soundtrack of the show is around 70% new to Disneyland Paris, though the entire It’s Party Time score from Mickey’s Magical Party has been thrown out. The It opens with a new song, “We’re the best of friends”, and ends with the catchy “Goin’ down the Bayou” from The Princess and the Frog.

The show is “non-stop, very fast, very fun” and contrary to earlier plans and press releases, won’t just be “an end to the day” with a single performance, but happening 3 or 4 times each day. And some good news for those who disliked the Mickey’s Magical Party event — this time, the large cast of dancers back up the characters, rather than almost stealing the show themselves.

The characters appear in groups, with Sully joined not only by Mike Wazowski (who hasn’t been seen live in Paris for years) for the Monsters Inc segment, but a monster-disguised Boo, who has never made it over here before. Stitch, meanwhile, will be joined by his much less well-known partner: Angel (experiment 624).

Public previews/dress rehearsals are due to begin from next Tuesday, 23rd March, if all goes to plan. These aren’t “official” performances and so cannot be fully confirmed, but if you’re visiting the park in the two weeks leading up to the New Gen launch, you may well get an exclusive preview.

Next up, the new Ratatouille car for Disney’s Stars ‘n’ Cars. After the reveal a couple of weeks ago, the video gives a better look at the some of its features:

Here are the official fun facts about the car:

• Adding Ratatouille to the parade involves an additional 1 minute and 40 seconds of music. The Ratatouille car will be accompanied by a medley from Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne.

• The car includes props, costumes, chef hats and even aprons for the driver-dancers!

• It travelled for 19 days by boat to reach the port of Le Havre, before it was shipped by freight container to Marne la Vallée.

• The car was originally a 1950 Studebaker and it has been fully customised at Disneyland Paris to include special effects and animated kitchen props from the world of Remy and Emile.

• It is powered by electric battery and can drive for 90 minutes on a single charge!

• Take a close look at the tyres as the parade rolls by, as they are not real… they are specially-constructed rubber-covered foam rings, which will never get a puncture!

• The car boasts the film’s famous Ratatouille on its bonnet and a moving pile of pots and pans that gives the impression they are all going to come crashing down!

Though these fun facts for the press wouldn’t have you know it, the car is of course the old Star Wars automobile from the original Florida parade.

The moving pots and pans will be built on top of the circular metal mechanism you can see being tested in the video. The new angles on the concept art reveal the hood (bonnet) of the car will be decorated like a check table cloth with the plate, of course, holding a large helping of ratatouille.

Bringing Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen to Disneyland Park doesn’t just mean shipping over the same costumes as the couple wear in their American park appearances, oh no. Since they’re taking “pride of place” in Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade, that means a special crystal, gold-laced gown and suit to match those given to the other royal couples back when the parade launched in 2007:

Official fun facts of Tiana’s dress:

• It takes more than 80 hours to make one dress .

• 20 m of crystal fabric are used.

• 80 m of golden thread are woven through the dress, involving more than 100 hours of embroidery work.

• More than 200 m of iridescent thread shimmer in the 20 m of brocade used.

• For that extra sparkle, there are 80 glistening rhinestones on each dress.

He won’t be “animatronic” of course, the cost would be enough to buy 10 new Disney All Star Express trains and rival the RER, but judging by his pose could give a wave of his faux-robotic arm as the train rolls along, in that classic Disney parade style.

WE ARE VERY NERVOUS TO SEE THE NEW ATRACTIONS AND CHARACTERS AT DISNEYLAND PARIS IN OUR SEVENTH VISIT TO THE PARK, THAT WILL BE THIS YEAR.
¡¡QUE GANAS TENEMOS DE IR YA A DISNEYLAND PARIS!!
Familia Gonzalez Marcos

Those are just about the worst sketches of Mickey I’ve ever seen. You’d think a Disney employee would have a better grasp of what their mascot should look like. He looks like a cheap knock-off from the Shijingshan Amusement Park in China.

I went to disneyland in november 2009 and I loved Mickeys Magical Party! I am waiting to see how the new attractions and parade floats turn out. I think this will give the studios a boost too. I think it will be great like most things at disneyland!

The song list for Disney Showtime Spectacular is as follows:
-Best of Friends from ‘The Fox and the Hound’
-Mickey Mouse March (Interlude)
-You’ve Got a Friend in Me from ‘Toy Story’
-Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride from ‘Lilo and Stitch’
-Aloha e Komo Mai from ‘Lilo and Stitch: The Series’
-The Glory Days from ‘The Incredibles’
-Shout (by Lulu)
-Le Festin from ‘Ratatouille’
-Can Can by Offenbach
-Gonna Take You There from ‘The Princess and the Frog’
-When We’re Human from ‘The Princess and the Frog’
-Finale (Best of Friends / You’ve Got a Friend In Me)

None of the music is recycled, all newly recorded with Character playback in French and English. Even the ‘Shout” excerpt, as featured in Block Party Bash has been re-recorded. Sounds great!

Some items copyright Disney. This website is independent of and not supported, endorsed by or connected to Disneyland Paris,The Walt Disney Company, Euro Disney Associés S.C.A., Disney Enterprises, Inc. or their subsidiaries and affiliates.